


The Lord and His Earl

by strictlybecca



Series: fifteen pieces of nagron [10]
Category: Spartacus: Vengeance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, Established Relationship, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 19:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/613580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strictlybecca/pseuds/strictlybecca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His Lordship, The Right Honorable Earl of Albrecht is in need of a wife.</p><p>He does not agree. Nor does his lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lord and His Earl

**Author's Note:**

> This one is ridiculously late because I am a putz and also because I love regency stuff and I couldn't decide what to write. This one is from a request from the most excellent aeternium, who asked for a regency!AU. I was, to say the least, pumped as hell for this.

“Well, she was a pretty one,” Duro said casually as he dropped back into his chair, the butler softly closing the door after their guests. Silence settled over the drawing room where he, Saax and Mira sat, having bid goodbye to an utter dragon of a mother and her two meek daughters, clearly aiming to link themselves permanently to a title and lands. Agron’s position as the Earl of Albrecht, though small, clearly seemed suitable to them. Agron glared at Duro fiercely, before rolling his eyes.

“Which one?” he asked dully, slumping more deeply into his chair. “The quiet one or the silent one?” Duro snorted and Agron gestured for a drink, which his butler fetched promptly. “That was an unmitigated disaster, you two,” he said, narrowing his gaze upon Saxa and Mira, who both attempted to look encouraging and who both failed quite miserably. 

“Quiet could be a good thing in a wife?” Mira offered, herself not sounding quite convinced. “The girls are both so accomplished, in both art and music. They seemed so promising.”

“They drank their tea quite pleasantly,” Duro offered, unhelpful to his dying day. Agron snarled in his direction, which prompted only the slightest glimpse of sympathy from his younger brother – only Duro knew of Agron’s real reason to never take a wife. _And only Duro would ever know,_ Agron thought with a sigh.

“While their mother prattled on and on,” Saxa said, slumping back in a most unladylike fashion to mimic her cousin. “You’re right Cousin, that was rather awful.”

Agron made a triumphant noise, “Thank you Cousin Saxa, you are quite clearly as intelligent as you are beautiful. Now see Mira, can’t you be as reasonable as my beloved, wonderful, _clever_ Cousin and stop this madness? I have no desire to find a wife, not now and not ever.”

“I never said we should stop searching,” Saxa interrupted delicately. “Merely that Mira and I had chosen quite foolishly this time. We will do better in the future. You are The Right Honorable Earl of Albrecht, Agron. You will have to take a wife sometime.” She eyed Agron meaningfully and he collapsed back into his chair, picking petulantly at the embroidered designs along the arms.

“I had been so sure,” Mira murmured, tapping her fan against her hand. “I even asked Lord Maleh for help,” she said plaintively, “Surely your closest friend could recommend someone worthwhile.” Agron’s face blanched at the mention of the name and he sat forward, dropping his head into his hands.

“Surely you did not,” he groaned, shaking his head lightly. “The last thing I need is Nasir learning of this whole debacle. I rather it be a private embarrassment than a public one.” Mira made a dismissive noise and he knew that she had paid little mind to his words.

The clock struck the hour and Agron glanced up at it in habit, before biting down on a swear – not appropriate in his present company – and standing in a hurry. “Business to attend to, my apologies,” he murmured, “Lunch was delightful,” he said with a sharp look at Mira and Saxa, who looked only mildly guilty at the silent accusation. “But I cannot linger.”

 

-

 

“You are late,” came a voice from above, and Agron craned his head back to catch a glimpse of a dark haired man perched in the tree just above his head.

“I was detained,” Agron said, grinning now at the sight of Lord Nasir Maleh, sitting cheerfully in a tree like he was no more than a boy. “Reliving moments of your childhood?”

“My childhood was not so fun as all this,” Nasir called back, swiftly swinging down from a branch to land beside Agron, dusting off his hands lightly. “Besides, I quite like manhood even better.” The glint in his eyes was a familiar and welcome one to Agron and he did not hesitate to wrap his arms around Nasir, drawing him close.

“You and I are of the same mind,” he murmured, drawing a sweet kiss from Nasir’s lips. “I do not think I enjoyed myself very much in life until you came along.” Nasir ducked his head, but Agron caught the wide smile he was attempting to hide. “Come, walk with me for a little while?” Nasir nodded his agreement and the two started into the forest down their usual hidden path, hands wound together.

“How was your day, my lord?” Nasir asked, his tone teasing. “You always complain of how difficult the life of an earl is, surely you have been up to something exciting.”

“Nothing exciting in the least,” Agron complained. “Yet another interminable lunch, with Duro and Saxa snickering like school children at the forwardness of some of these mothers and daughters. Today’s lunch was one of the worst.” He waited for a teasing comment from his lover and when he received none, he glanced to his left curiously.

Nasir was quiet and Agron realized his mistake almost as soon as the words had left his mouth. He paused in his walk and tugged on Nasir’s hands until the lord faced him, his eyes dark and his mouth set in a solemn line.

“Nothing is to come of this stupidity,” Agron said fiercely, “You must know that. Please Nasir, there will never be anyone for me, only you.” Nasir’s expression did not change in the slightest and Agron despaired of ever finding the right words. He was not a speech maker or a politician like Spartacus, nor a preacher or clergyman like his brother – he was a man of action, of duty rather than words. He could ever only show what he felt – but to show the world what Nasir was to him, what he felt when this man was near… well, that would be ruin for them both.

“Mira asked me to recommend a woman for you,” Nasir said finally, quietly and Agron rejoiced at the sound, even as he swore heartily at the words.

“I wish that interfering nag would be quiet about things of which she knows nothing,” Agron complained. “I did not ask for her help, or to participate in this ridiculous charade."

“She said none had pleased you thus far,” Nasir continued, a spark igniting in his eyes – something Agron was pleased to see, even though his love had an infamously sharp tongue when displeased – “But that it was only a matter of time before you found someone who suited you.” It was clear that Nasir felt little guilt for recommending choices so boring as the girls who Agron had lunch with that afternoon – and Agron did not blame him. He could not say he would not have done the same if pressed for a similar request for Nasir’s sake. 

“I have found someone to suit me, til the end of my days,” Agron tried. Nasir did not look at all certain and Agron let out a frustrated growl. “I have not the words to convince you, my love,” he said, “Nor the means to show you the depth of my feeling.”

“If you have not the words nor the means, then what do you have?” Nasir snapped, withdrawing from Agron’s hold slightly, looking angry and hurt and sad beyond all reckoning. The hiding had hurt Nasir more than it had hurt Agron, that was clear. The subterfuge had been quite simple on Agron’s part thus far; being an earl meant traveling to his many properties quite often and spending far too much time away from the house at Albrecht in order to attend to meetings and balls and social calls. And far too much time away from Nasir’s side – Nasir, who was forced to wait and stay behind and put on an act for all to see.

“Just me, my love,” Agron spat out, frustrated and terrified at the idea of losing Nasir. “The man I am, no titles nor wealth nor land. What you see before you is all I can offer. If that is not enough…” Agron did not want to know what would happen if _he_ was not enough to keep Nasir. He could not even contemplate the thought.

“You stupid, horrid _beast_ of a man, you are all I have ever wanted,” Nasir said, grasping at Agron’s hand and pressing it to his cheek, eyes wide and frantic. Agron let out a shuddering breath of relief and brushed his thumb across Nasir’s warm, soft cheek.

“If I could,” Agron said desperately, quietly, drawing Nasir into his arms and pressing their foreheads together. “I would bring you up before the vicar and marry you at once. Please Nasir, please know this. I want nothing more than to live with you by my side, to greet you every morning as we wake and every night as we fall asleep. You are my heart.”

Nasir choked out a wet laugh, stretching up on his toes to press a kiss to the corner of Agron’s mouth. “You are wrong,” he said softly. “You _do_ have the words. Quite pretty ones too. I did not think you had it in you.” Agron laughed too and they held one another tightly for a long while, only breaking apart as something occurred to Agron.

“Duro,” he said to Nasir, who stared at him, bewildered. “Duro will marry us, he knows us, he will perform the rites and rituals. He will not object.” Of this Agron was sure. Though it had taken weeks and months of tension between the two very different brothers, eventually they had found common ground with one another over Agron’s love for Nasir – and Duro had eventually come to love Nasir as another brother, welcoming him to the family at every chance.

“It will not be legal or recognized,” Agron hurried to say, smling ruefully, “In fact, it will be quite against the law, but Duro will do it. And it will be real for us. And that is all that has ever mattered, yes?” 

Nasir opened his mouth, looking as if to bring up all the myriad things that could possibly go wrong with the idea – but he snapped his mouth shut abruptly and simply smiled. “Yes,” he murmured, drawing Agron down for another kiss. “Yes, that is all that has ever mattered. Yes, I will marry you.”

Agron beamed, hauling Nasir up into his arms and spinning him, prompting laughter from them both. “You are mine,” Agron promised. “And I am yours. And that will never change.” It was not ideal, this secret marriage. But it was something that would be theirs and no one else’s. And that, Agron decided, was something he could live with.


End file.
